According to the newspaper, Gen. B. B. Bell, the commander of the USFK, is urging the Pentagon to adopt a plan that for the first time would allow thousands of troops stationed in Korea to bring their spouses and children to live with them.

"General Bell's concept, a reversal of decades of deployment policy for South Korea, also reflects a strategic assessment that troops are less vulnerable than they once were to attack from the North -- and that such an attack itself is less likely today, given the enduring American presence as a deterrent and the growth in both the size and sophistication of South Korea's armed forces," the newspaper wrote.

About 90 percent of the 28,500 U.S. troops now deployed in South Korea are not authorized to bring families, a policy based on an analysis that the North-South front is too dangerous, and the regime in the North too unpredictable, to allow dependents to join troops there, the newspaper wrote.

In an interview with the New York Times, Gen. Bell cited the USFK bases moving further south as a basis for his recommendation. "As we move into these sanctuary bases -- and they are sanctuaries -- they are not up under the guns."

The plan he was advocating could be costly, Gen. Bell acknowledged, as additional housing, schools and medical facilities would have to be built. But some of those expenses might be covered by the South Korean government, he noted.

The American military presence in South Korea has dropped by about 9,000 troops over the past five years, as two brigades previously based here have joined the rotation schedule for Iraq and Afghanistan. Gen. Bell said that the U.S. still needs ground troops in South Korea, but that much of the work of deterring attack is now done by air and naval forces, the New York Times added.

(englishnews@chosun.com )